Mickey Callaway is not the only NL East manager who'll be under the microscope

TAMPA – On the first day of spring training, Mickey Callaway reiterated what his boss, Brodie Van Wagenen, first said and all the media pundits have since been echoing: He’s supposed to win this year.

“If we do not do things,” Callaway said, “it’s going to be on me.”

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This, of course, was in answer to Van Wagenen’s proclamation that, after bringing in closer Edwin Diaz, along with Robinson Cano, Wilson Ramos and Jeurys Familia, “internally we would argue we’re the favorites now.”

By “we” Callaway could just as soon mean the rest of his rival skippers in the National League who, for different reasons, are all under pressure this year.

We start with Callaway, who arrived at spring training with a vastly improved club from the one he took over a year ago that started out 11-1 and ended up 77-85. Van Wagenen’s additions of Diaz and Familia for the back end of the bullpen, Ramos behind the plate and Cano’s power bat at second base represent huge upgrades in those places. But rival scouts and Mets internal people will maintain the new GM’s most important off-season acquisition was that of veteran former manager Jim Riggleman as Callaway’s bench coach.

Mickey Callaway has his work cut out for him this season. (Jeff Roberson / AP)

In so many ways, in-game management, handling the bullpen, even dealing with the media, Callaway demonstrated he was way over his shoes as a first-time manager. In that regard, Riggleman, with 13 years of managerial experience with four different clubs, will be a huge help to him. Still, with the Mets especially, it’s all going to come down to health. And if any of the starting pitchers, with no safety net, or Ramos, with a history of injuries, goes down, and the Mets are floundering at the All-Star break, you can be sure Van Wagenen is not going to blame himself for that.

There may not have been any more disappointing team in baseball last year than the Washington Nationals, who were everybody’s choice to run away with the division and instead finished third, 82-80, under another first year manager, Dave Martinez. And like Callaway, Martinez came under a lot of criticism – specifically for his handling of the clubhouse which, according to a number of reports in mid-season, was in a state of disarray.

Nationals’ insiders say Martinez’s biggest problem was Bryce Harper, who they say was not a leader and too often beat to his own drum. Throughout the season, National fans lamented the team’s decision not to bring back Dusty Baker who, according to sources, was let go by ownership in favor of Martinez because he wanted a three-year extension at $5 million per. Over the winter, GM Mike Rizzo spent $199 million on a number of moves that, even without Harper, could greatly improve the Nats – Patrick Corbin and Anibal Sanchez for the rotation, Kurt Suzuki and Yan Gomes for the catching, Brian Dozier and Howie Kendrick for second base and Kyle Barraclough and Trevor Rosenthal for the bullpen. Plus, uber-prospect Victor Robles is ready to take over center field, so one Nats insider noted: “The best thing that could happen to Davey Martinez is when Bryce Harper officially signs someplace else.”

Nationals manager Dave Martinez lost the clubhouse last season, according to sources. (Andrew Harnik / AP)

In Philadelphia, Gabe Kapler may be sitting on the hottest of manager hot seats. Even though Phillies owner John Middleton has yet to spend the “silly money” he hinted in pursuing Harper and Manny Machado, the Phillies have made enough upgrades – catcher J.T. Realmuto, Jean Segura at short, Andrew McCutchen in the outfield, David Robertson for the bullpen – and Middleton has made it known he expects the Phillies to win. When, after being in first place at 65-52 on August 12, the Phillies collapsed and wound up 80-82 last year, critics pointed to Kapler’s lax spring training in which there were few rules and they did very little fundamentals work.

This spring, Kapler has vowed to “implement systems and processes and boundaries that make it clear we are here to work every day.” In the meantime — and this may be the biggest factor in his job security – Kapler is operating under the cloud of a Department of Justice grand jury investigation looking into the Dodgers’ Latin America operations when he was their scouting director from 2014-2017.

Then we have the matter of Derek Jeter’s Miami Marlins who, despite the Yankee icon’s insistence about adding a tremendous amount of talent to their system the past two years, are destined to again have the worst record and lowest attendance in baseball this year. Last week, Jeter said: “We need to see improvement. We need to see improvement from some of our younger guys who got an opportunity to play last year. We can sit and talk about minor league systems all you want, but it gets to the point when you’re in Miami that you have to develop and improve every year in and year out.”

That sure sounded like a mandate for Don Mattingly, who is in the last year of his contract as Marlins manager. But how does Jeter expect the Marlins to improve this year when he just traded the best catcher in the game, Realmuto, to the Phillies for two pitching prospects who are at least two years away? This on top of last year trading 2018 NL MVP Christian Yelich to the Brewers, despite a team-friendly contract through 2022, for four prospects who all look like busts. Good luck, Donny.

Finally, there’s Atlanta’s Brian Snitker, coming off a season in which he was named NL Manager of the Year for guiding the Braves to their first postseason berth since 2013. With a contract extension through 2021, Snitker’s in no danger of being fired, but he shouldn’t count on repeating as division champ either. Other than adding oft-injured Josh Donaldson for $23 million, Snitker’s Braves bosses did little to improve the team, especially in the starting rotation where Mike Foltynewicz (13-10, 2.85) is considered their ace and Anibal Sanchez, who saved their season last year as their most consistently effective starter after June, was allowed to skip to the Nationals.

Maybe they’re waiting for Dallas Keuchel’s price to come down, but Braves CEO Terry McGuirk sounded almost arrogant last week in saying the team payroll will be flat this year, adding: “We’re a fairly major real estate business as opposed to a baseball club.” Braves fans loved that one.

IT’S A MADD, MADD WORLD

Are the Padres the team for Manny Machado? (Harry How / Getty Images)

Does Manny Machado finally have his mystery team in the San Diego Padres? My sources tell me the Padres, who met with Machado and his reps in Miami last week, have an offer of eight years/$240 million out to him, which is believed to be slightly more than what the White Sox have offered him – but considerably less than the 10 years/$350 million his agent, Dan Lozano, vowed to get for him. I’m also hearing Machado is not happy with Lozano right now. … Baseball lost one of the truly good people last Thursday when longtime scout Tom “T-Bone” Giordano passed away at age 93 in Orlando. “T-Bone” was baseball’s oldest scout last year, finishing up a contract with the Braves and had hoped to catch on with another club for at least one more year before incurring a blood infection in December. A native of Newark (N.J.), he was a fixture in the press boxes of Citi Field, Yankee Stadium and Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. His three proudest achievements were signing Manny Ramirez for the Indians, Cal Ripken for the Orioles and hitting two more homers (24 to 22) than Hank Aaron in the Class A South Atlantic League in 1953. RIP “T-Bone”.